Page 10 of Bearly Mated

He was a bear shifter, I was a human, and our different cultures when it came to relationships weren’t compatible.

No matter how desperately I’d wanted him for much of my life.

We ate together in silence.

When we were done, he waited on the porch while I got ready. Afterward, he followed me to the clan’s doctor’s office in thetruck he’d brought to my house that morning. I recognized it as the one he’d driven when we were teenagers, but didn’t bring it up.

Weweren’ta couple.

five

CALLIE

Eight hoursand an infinite number of exams, blood tests, and scans later, I finally drove back to my house with an all-clear from the clan’s doctor.

Apparently, I was in peak fertility.

Yay.

Mybreeding appointmentwas scheduled for the next morning.

It made me sick to think about Hudson showing up at my door promptly at 8 AM to fuck me and leave afterward.

Also, turned on.

But mostly sick.

The nerves would’ve been worse if it was a stranger.

It was what I’d signed up for, though. And it was just a few minutes of sex—I’d survive it. I’d had sex with a whopping three men in my adult life, so I was basically a professional.

I snorted to myself at the thought.

I’d updated Wren on the Hudson development on my way to the doctor, and texted her that I’d gotten the all-clear as I left, so she called and asked me about it as I drove home.

I hung up when I arrived, and went right to work making beans and rice yet again.

The knock on my door while I was adding water to the rice shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did.

“Ourappointmentisn’t until the morning,” I told Hudson, as I pulled the door open.

“We’re not fucking on a schedule, Cal.” He stepped into the house, his nostrils flaring. “You don’t have any food except rice and beans, do you?”

“Nope.” I let him shut the door, walking back to the kitchen.

“I’ll order something from the Grill.”

Jerry’s Grill was the only real restaurant in town. The diner closed at two, so dinner there was nonexistent.

“You don’t need to do that.”

“I’m doing it anyway.” He caught up to me in the kitchen, putting his hands on my waist. “We need to catch up. Let’s spend tonight talking, like we used to.”

“Everything is different now.”

“Different can be good.”

“Not in this situation.”

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